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By Jack Nichols
Steen Fenrich was killed by his step-father, who then mutilated Steen's skull by carving anti-gay epithets into it |
Dix Hills, New York—In an ugly suburban drama somewhat reminiscent of dour moods in
the film, American Beauty, a 36-year old Long Island man, John Fenrich has killed himself
after murdering his 19-year old stepson, Steen Keith Fenrich, and dismembering
the boy's body. Wanda, the teen's mother, is black. John, his homophobic stepfather,
was white.
The murdered youth's severed skull, found Tuesday, bore racist and anti-gay slurs.
It was discovered by a local in a plastic container in a Queens park, along with a foot and
some mashed bone fragments.
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The elder Fenrich had also carved his stepson's Social Security number
into the boy's head. Upon hearing that his remains had been discovered, John
Fenrich telephoned a TV station, News12 Long Island, early Wednesday morning.
Although the station had made no mention on the air of his stepson's dismemberment,
Fenrich spoke of it openly and admitted he'd been considering suicide.
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The TV station immediately sent police to the Fenrich home. According to Newsday,
Fenrich confessed to police that he'd killed his stepson last September after an argument. Steen
had wanted to return home after a romantic affair had not worked out. His step-dad
refused. "I was a bad father," he is said to have screamed.
John Fenrich ran from the officers and climbed onto the roof of his split-level Long Island
home, carrying guns. His wife and 15-year old son fled from the scene while the
distraught man taunted police, begging them to kill him. He fired bullets
into the air.
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Related Sites:
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But when it became apparent to him—after eight hours-- that the police were prepared to
wait rather than to fire on him, the murderer put a handgun to his own head and pulled the
trigger.
Tom Hroncich the gay editor of Outlook-Long Island, expressed his feelings at
hearing of the tragedy:
"While perhaps none of us knew Steen personally, his murder strikes us hard
for its brutality and because of our shared life experiences. I certainly
hope that community leaders from Suffolk and Nassau work together to stage a
vigil in memory of Steen and to help those Long Islanders grieve for the
brother we didn't get to know.
"As we mourned Matthew 18 months ago, we all
prayed and/or hoped that such a crime would not happen again here. We now
know that it did."
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